Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations using a pond for irrigation?

after reading this forum for years and using tons of the info to build a new 3 acre pond I say Thank you, Now for the question what or the thoughts on using a pond for irrigation on the fields and keeping the water level in check with near by river ? pond is designed for bass and blue gills . Agin thank you

Couple questions for you on this:
Why not irrigate directly from the river?
Does this river already have a water connection to the pond?

Ps... welcome to PB forum. Glad you jumped in....

Rob, too many of our rivers aren't exactly pristine. Not sure I would like to use it for topping off a pond.

Plus, you'll likely end up with trash fish in your pond.

I could use a good answer to the same irrigation question.

I had planned to use my pond to water crops, but after doing some research, most of what I've read said never do it, because of contaminants.

But, I guess if you're watering grass or something you're not going to consume it wouldn't matter as much.

FWIW IMHO unless you have added chemicals to your pond or plan too, I think pond water is actually better to use for irrigation than well water, a lot of organic content. I use my pond water to water all my trees. Folks use their ponds to water live stock all the time.

Edit: My thought is any contaminant coming into your pond thru runoff is coming from the fields you plan to irrigate anyway, unless you are bringing bad stuff in from the river, I say go for it but I would want to know what's in the river water first. To know what's coming from the river over time might be the show stopper IMHO.

Unless you have a small filter, you will be stocking your pond with nearly every aquatic the river has in it.

edit7279, did those sites say what kinds of contaminants? Pond water is an very good source for irrigation, and I don't have any idea what "contaminant" in it that would be of concern.

Rainman, they didn't go into great detail. Here are a couple of snippets from one site. Again, I don't know how accurate or reliable this info is. That's why I was hoping to find a definitive answer.

"Water-borne infections and fungus are prevalent in some ponds, especially natural and untended ponds. Fungal infections such as anthracnose reach the plant through water and, in stagnant ponds where little oxygen makes its way into the water, anaerobic bacteria can thrive. These bacteria can kill a plant by producing toxic compounds. Also, microscopic and near microscopic life, such as nematodes, which prefer moist areas such as the areas around ponds, can infiltrate the root systems of plants, cutting off a plant’s access to its soil-based nutrition."

"When fertilizer is spread on the soil, often much of the chemical nutrients remain unused. Over time, these extra chemicals are washed into the water table and, through runoff, into nearby ponds. This additional nutrient collects, unused and infuses the water with more elements, such as phosphorus and nitrogen, than it would normally have. When this water is used on already fertilized ground, it can disrupt the pH level of the soil and cause nitrogen burn on the roots of plants."

Another site addresses the pH concern as well.

I just came across these by google searching "using pond to water crops"

A buddy of mine pumps well water into his pond during the week and waters his fields(when its dry) on the weekends. He has a neat setup of buried irrigation pipes with multiple termination points that he plugs his Long Throw Irrigation Sprinklers into.

The plan was to irrigate with a travler style irrigator which would be fed from the pond due to the logistics of the pond around the crops, I was going to top off pond from river the only filter would have holes about the size of a pencil the water from the river would travel through a impeller, but my fear was trash fish, sounds like it may not be a good idea, unless I could find a way to keep trash out

I certainly agree with the posts above regarding river water. I personally would be very wary of using river water that receives a lot of agricultural and/or municipal runoff, and that could have invasive/unwanted species. I wouldn't want that in my ponds.

But, river water for irrigation is a whole different story. It could be very good. It could be very bad. I'd check with your local Extension Service to determine if they feel it is safe for irrigation.

My pond and irrigation situation is quite a bit different, but my experience and observations may be of assistance to others.

I irrigate about a 10,000 square foot garden (about 100 x 100 ft) from my lower 3/4 acre pond. I also have several 1/4 acre wildlife food plots that I irrigate, when necessary, after I over-plant them each spring. I'm guessing that I'm irrigating something much smaller than what you are planning to irrigate. All totaled, I probably irrigate about an acre at most.

However, I feel pretty confident of my water quality -- especially from the pond used for irrigation. It is the last pond in a series of five. The ponds above it range from about 25' x 25' to 1/3 acre. At least 80% of the water into the lowest pond comes via this path. The other 20% comes via forest and a 40 acre cattle pasture that funnels through about an acre of grasses. The main water filters through several hundred feet of forest from a horse pasture and apple orchard before it gets to the first settling pond.

I use this water for my garden and feed plots. I have two large tripod-mounted sprinklers for immediate moisture when needed. The garden is mostly kept irrigated from soaker hoses on two IBC tanks.

The sprinklers are powered by a 2-inch semi-trash pump. The IBC tanks are filled from that same semi-trash pump as needed -- about once or twice a week during the growing season.

I figure my irrigation pond holds at least a million gallons. At about 2000 gallons of water per gallon of gasoline in the semi-trash pump, I've never seen a noticeable pond water level reduction.

If I use 1 million gallons as my reservoir estimate, and I pull 2000 gallons out of it, that is only 0.2% of the total water.

That mostly happens when I am at full pool. Even so, it is not much.

Irrigating from your ponds can be extremely useful to wildlife and crops.